What If Your Adoption Was Never Legal? Black Market Adoption with Patricia Knight Meyer

What if your adoption was never legal? Patricia Knight Meyer was handed over as an infant along a Texas hospital curb without an agency, a judge, or legal adoption paperwork. At 12, she discovered she had no birth certificate. At 47, she finally received one that reflected her true identity. In this deeply personal conversation, Patricia joins Lisa Lacy to explore black-market adoption, adoption trauma, abandonment, people-pleasing, and the complicated emotions of reuniting with biological parents. She also shares the story behind her award-winning memoir, Wonderland: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption, and why adoptee rights, identity, and family preservation deserve more honest conversations. In This Episode: 02:43 – How adoption trauma, abandonment fears, and people-pleasing shaped Patricia’s childhood. 06:04 – Discovering her missing birth certificate and questioning whether she had been stolen. 09:19 – Reuniting with her biological parents and confronting the identity she thought she knew. 15:05 – Preparing for adoption reunions, managing expectations, and establishing healthy boundaries. 24:25 – Writing Wonderland, surviving devastating losses, and reclaiming her personal history.